Double Jeopardy(17 Jan. 1993)

Slumlord Frank Fernandez is acquitted of the murder of City Councilman Roberto Galvan, but Galvan's family is sure he was guilty. Father Michael intends to run for Galvan's council seat, ... See full summary »

Storyline

Slumlord Frank Fernandez is acquitted of the murder of City Councilman Roberto Galvan, but Galvan's family is sure he was guilty. Father Michael intends to run for Galvan's council seat, but Frank Fernandez threatens him, and he reveals to Jessica that Fernandez is his father. Frank discovers his son Raymond is selling drugs. But when Frank is killed, the more Jessica investigates, the more likely it looks like one of the Galvan boys did it. Written by
mama.sylvia

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Did You Know?

Trivia

When Father Michael is joking with Jessica about using a priest as the main character of one of her novels, he mentions the character of Father Dowling, created by Ralph McInerny. Of course, former cast member Tom Bosley went on to star in the series based on that character. See more »

Goofs

The plot has Fr. Michael running for the vacant council seat, but Church law prohibits a Priest from seeking or holding elected office as it is in direct conflict with his service to the church. See more »

User Reviews

Saint Julian's Church, in New York City, sets the stage for much of the activity in this episode, featuring two sets of brothers, the sons of feuding widowed parents, or at least one mother is led to believe that she has been widowed at the hand of the other feuding family's father....

Maria Galvan (Rosanna DeSoto) operates a Manhattan exotic plant shoppe, while her young adult sons, José 'Joseph' Galvan (Raymond Cruz) and Tony Galvan (Mark Adair-Rios), must become "the men of the house," as the brothers' father, Roberto, a City Councilman, has been missing and presumed dead.

Frank Fernandez (Ismael 'East' Carlo) a wealthy landlord who collects rents without maintaining his tenants' property, is summoned to court with murder charges in connection with Roberto Galvan's disappearance, and is acquitted before the body is found. (Hence, if the body should pop up and if evidence points to Frank Fernandez as a murder culprit, then he would not be tried again because of the legal mandate of the "Double Jeopardy" clause in criminal law.)

Father Michael (Robert Beltran) serves as Pastor and Parish Priest at St. Julian's Church, which has its own indoor basketball court, for inner-city youth activity, as well as a basement classroom, for Manhattan University adult extension courses. Father Michael has already earned his doctorate, before turning to seminary, and coaching basketball, and now he campaign to run for the open City Council seat, in order to help the community against those slum lords.

Jessica Fletcher (Angela Lansbury) at this recurring venue instructs a Criminology course, for which its students include José 'Joseph' Galvan, Ruth Nelson (Judith Jones), who sees José socially, and Denise (Valerie Dillman), who sees Raymond Fernandez (Dan Ferro), the younger son of Frank Fernandez, who claims his father's innocence in any wrong-doing in connection with the disappearance of Roberto Galvan.

While the Galvan family faces double trouble in trying to operate the floral shoppe without Roberto, and to pass tests and to avoid altercations, the Fernandez family faces double trouble, as Raymond operates an illegal narcotics ring, against Frank's wishes, while Frank experiences confrontations with his law-abiding son, Father Michael, Frank's son to a mother who has passed before his half-brother, Raymond's, mother has passed.

Jessica, of course, instructs her students about various aspects of murder, but no one exhibits more surprise than she, to learn that anyone would check out from the library a copy of her "Toxic Handbook" in order to create a poisonous spray for use as a murder weapon.

This actually happens, as a perpetrator sprays a victim inside St. Julian's Confessional, but first, Manuel (Juan A. Riojas) joins forces with Raymond Fernandez to hunt down José and Tony Galvan at Maria's floral shoppe once a body surfaces in a NYC gutter.

Sergeant Bill Davis (Julius Carry) investigates both murders with the cooperation of Jessica Fletcher, who wrote the book on exotic poisons, which someone has secretly checked from the library to plot the course of the second murder, which occurs at the confessional, as Ruth Nelson witnesses while she's standing at the alter, awaiting her evening plans with José. (But she can't see the perpetrator's face and intends to protect José and Tony from possibly being identified.)

So, with two families in double crisis with brother against brother, and half-brother against half-brother, and family against family, and students trying to name their poisons, with young love hanging in the balance, Jessica and Sergeant Bill Davis face the challenge of "Double Jeopardy."

The cast is rounded out by Sonia Jackson as Librarian, Keri Johnson as Teen Boy, Cheryl Moore as Reporter, J.D. Walters as Reporter, and Larry Carroll as Telecaster.

This episode represents the first acting credit each by Valerie Dillman and Juan A. Riojas, and the most recent appearance to date by Keri Johnson, as well as the first of two "MSW" appearances for Judith Jones, Robert Beltran and Dan Ferro, the second of two for Larry Carroll, and the second of three "MSW's" each for Rosanna DeSoto and Ismael 'East' Carlo.

Julius Carry, acting in film and on television since 1979, has unfortunately since passed.

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